Introduction to Theater of the Oppressed (RSED 4036)
Dates & Times: Tues 7:10-10:00pm
Venue: Fireside room
Instructor: Jiwon Chung ([email protected])
Course Description
Theater of the Oppressed (TO) is a collection of games, techniques, exercises for using art
and theater as a vehicle for personal and social change. It uses the dynamized human body
and the charged theatrical space as laboratories for exploring power, transforming oppression,
and finding community-building solutions to the problems of inequality, conflict, injustice and
human suffering. Formed in the crucible of revolutionary activism, and based on the radical
ideas of Paolo Freire and Augusto Boal, it is a collective artistic exploration into the fullest
expression of our human dignity, potential and creativity.
This is an introductory workshop covering the theory, application, and facilitation of TO,
including:
 Demechanization
 Dynamization
 Games
 Image Theater & other codifications.
 Forum Theater & variants
 Rainbow of Desire/Cop-in-the-Head
 Theory & Pedagogy
The workshop will be 80% experiential and 20% reflective/didactic. No prior theater or
performance experience is required. Elements of related counter-oppressive techniques will
also be introduced as an adjunct to TO, and other practitioners of TO may be invited as guest
facilitators.
Course Outline
The course is structured to introduce action and experiential techniques from the Theater of
the Oppressed, so that participants can begin to apply them as tools in a practice of personal
and collective liberation. Participants will be taught how to observe, analyze, challenge and
transform oppression and oppressive practices at the individual, interpersonal, institutional,
and ideological levels, using a vast spectrum of techniques, exercises, and tools from Theater
of the Oppressed.
The core essence of the work lies in Augusto Boal's deep and sustained formulation of
Freirian principles into a political and artistic practice. As a method of popular pedagogy, TO is
a radical and powerful method of translating Paolo Freire's ideas of a pedagogy of liberation
into social action. This course will explore ways of engaging the intelligence of the whole
body, and the wisdom of groups to dialogue, learn & unlearn, self-teach, and problem-solve
fundamental issues of oppression and social injustice. We will be experimenting with multimodal techniques of representing, thinking and communicating (especially as they relate to
power dynamics). There will be a strong emphasis on kinesthetic learning, total physical
response & meta-learning. There will be a progression of games and exercises for structuring
group dynamics. All of these activities are utilized in a structured progression that creates a
core practice of liberation and empowerment for all participants.
In addition to the above, we will be bringing a deep analysis of power relations, oppression,
liberation and social justice from a viewpoint strongly influenced by a critical/left worldview.
The work is an embodied phenomenological exploration into praxis. Participants should come
out solidly grounded in theory & practice, more deeply aware, and more courageous and
passionate in their desire to challenge social injustice.
Expectations:
The course will be a balance of active experiential techniques and critical
reflection/processing. Active participation (with reasonable accommodation) is expected
both in physical/experiential exploration and in critical intellectual engagement.
In addition, the work is intensive, dialogical, and collectively generated, so good attendance,
participation, and punctuality are crucial to the success of the class.
Readings in a course reader will be assigned for discussion, and participants are encouraged
to take notes or to keep a journal for each session.
All participants will be expected to complete one of the following projects or papers:
a)
b)
c)
d)
community project: a performance, presentation, community workshop(s)
a reflective essay/report on a TO project
a series of lesson plans utilizing TO
a critical paper on theory (not to exceed 20 pages, double-spaced),
that engages with, utilizes, or demonstrates Theater of the Oppressed.
In addition, short reflective essays (to be posted on moodle) after each class will also be
required.
The instructor will be available for further discussion outside of class by appointment;
questions and concerns can also be addressed to me by email ([email protected]) or by
phone.
Participants will be supported and encouraged to facilitate with groups outside the class.
There will be structured opportunities to assist in facilitation of community workshops, and
group and individual support will be given to those who take the initiative to develop their own
community workshops.
Please dress comfortably to move.
Grading:
Participants will be graded Pass/Fail with a written evaluation unless a letter grade is
requested. Absence from two classes without arrangements for makeup will result in failure
from the course. Any planned absences should be discussed with instructor ahead of time.
Successful completion of the course will be based on:
a) Attendance and active participation/engagement: 60%
b) Reflective moodle essays: 20%
c) Final Project: 20%
Additional work may be submitted for extra credit; please discuss with instructor.
The following areas of TO will be covered:
Demechanization & Dynamization: Building trust, safety, spontaneity, cohesiveness in
groups; engaging & liberating sensation, movement and imagination; developing creativity,
embodied intelligence and spontaneity in action.
Image theater: Making the invisible visible; concretizing, engaging, embodying and
transforming oppression; observing, analyzing and deconstructing received images, stories,
memes/mythologies/ideologies of oppression.
Forum theater: Intervening in & transforming oppressive situations through collective
problem-solving; imagining, enacting, rehearsing alternative outcomes; exploring “subjunctive”
modes, viewpoints, styles of relating/dialoguing; creating collective empowerment &
community-oriented justice
Cop in the Head/Rainbow of Desire: Techniques for transforming intrapsychic and
internalized oppression.
TO as a Martial Art: Exploring the dialectical syntax of power: Integrating mind, body & spirit
in the transformation of oppression
TO & allied techniques: TO, Simultaneous Dramaturgy, Playback and other allied
techniques: sculpting, fluid sculptures, pairs, narrative techniques, empathic listening and
witnessing.
Theory: History and Theory of TO; development of TO techniques; application of
theatrical/TO techniques in social action, education, therapy, politics, dialogue and conflict
resolution; Empathy, catharsis, dynamization; "distributive affective justice"; the function of art
in society (propaganda, ideology, meme theory); theater, pedagogy and social transformation.
Expected Outcomes:
At the end of the course, participants should:
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Be able to articulate the basic approaches, techniques and theories of TO.
Understand the historical and social context of the development of TO and Pedagogy
of the Oppressed.
Be able to explain the developmental sequencing of a workshop (warm up,
demechanization, dynamization, codification (image theater, forum, rainbow, etc.),
analysis, action, reflection; and be able to coordinate and utilize these elements with
groups.
Have tools to build trust, safety, empathy, and facilitate dialogue with groups.
Be able to identify and measure affiliation, difference & social dynamics; be able to
apply this to clarifying, revealing and transforming issues of oppression.
Be able to apply the skills of demechanization (dishabituation) of sight, sound, touch,
thought, affect, movement and its effects on liberating and freeing consciousness and
habits of relating..
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
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Be able to apply the skills of dynamization in expressive and focused action for social
change.
Be able to identify their own privilege/status/power, and how it situates them in relation
to other groups or individuals; be able to identify the multiplicity of ways in which we
oppress and are oppressed by ourselves & others.
Be able to articulate, analyze, witness, dialogue, and transform oppression using the
tools and techniques of TO and the Freirian cycle (codification, analysis, action,
reflection).
Have tools to able to enhance, empower, dynamize oneself and other groups, and
develop a liberated, transformational approach to being in this world.
Participants should also demonstrate an increase in:
 Their ability to shift [between] power dynamics; increased fluidity in affiliation and
individuation; increased ability to empathize or distance as necessary; fluidity in
transitioning between action, affect and reflection (concrete/experiential and abstract
modes).
 Spontaneity, creativity, imagination & tele; affect, role and status flexibility.
 Their ability to notice, name and analyze power dynamics, with an increased ability to
shift, transform, reverse and neutralize power dynamics.
 Their awareness of the larger institutional, historical & social contexts of oppression &
marginalization
 Their desire to create a deep, informed, intelligent, sustained commitment to
challenging and transforming oppressive relations of power everywhere
The application of the following exercises and techniques (not exhaustive) will be
introduced, taught and discussed in the classes. A schema for progression will be
introduced.
Warm ups, Embodiment & Sociometrical Techniques:
Physical Warm ups: Space games, Name games, Sound/Movement exercises, Tag games;
Energy exercises, Imaginative endowments, Endowed offers; Breathing spirals, Feldenkrais
exercises, Contact Improvisation, Martial arts exercises (Pagua spirals,Taiji push hands,
Wingchun sticky hands, Kali Numerado), Sociometrical exercises;
Group awareness/cohesion: "Zen counting", "Glass cobra"; Crossings, Repetition exercises
Demechanization/power dynamics:
Demechanization: Blind sequences (“Lovers”, Magnets; Glass Cobra, etc); Sound sequences
(“noises”, song of siren, etc); movement sequences (“Bolivian Mimosas (w/sound)”, leading
centers)
Power/status/lead/follow games: "Card status"; number games”; “Great game of power”, “Your
place in the room”, “Enemy/defender”, “Bear of Poitiers”, “Vampire of Strasbourg”, "Walk,
follow, drop, center", "Flocking", “Columbian hypnosis”
Image Theater:
Complete the image, (pairs, trios, with chairs, with dialogue), image circles; concentric circles
(gallery of images); Song of the siren, ”agora” forms, “freeze tag”, “Image of the word”, “Mirror
image”, “Transform the image”, Dynamized images (sounds, words, monologues, actions);
Auroptiocn
Forum Theater/intervention
Forum warm Up: "modified repetitive listening" (distant, loud, silent); Forum sharing: Story:
"holographic witnessing", PT to Forum;
Lighting Forum: Boxing seconds, Topping Forum; interventions [discussion]; Meta Forum:
Rainbow Forum; Carousel Forum; Image Forum
Rainbow of Desire/Cop-in-the Head:
Prismatic oppression, Dialogue of internalized images, Rainbow into forum.
Rehearsal Techniques & Transductions:
The following outline is a tentative outline. The actual progression may evolve
organically and dialogically from session to session, depending on the needs,
situations and issues that are generated by the participants.
Page numbers refer to the class reader.
Session 1:
Warm ups
Embodiment & Sociometry
Demechanization & Dynamization
Introduction to Image Theater
History & Theory
Readings:
Introduction: What is Theater of the Oppressed? (Overview): p.3-6
Augusto Boal on Democracy Now! (Interview): p.11-16
The Blessing is Next to the Wound (Interview with Hector Aristizabal by Diane Lefer) in
Theater, Therapy, Activism
Session 2:
Warmup
Demechanization & Dynamization
Games & Image theater
History, Theory & Facilitation
Readings:
Boal in Brazil, France, the USA (History): p.17-32
The Structure of the Actor’s Work (Theory): p.73-82
TO, the Body, and the Phenomenology of Oppression & Liberation (Theory) p. 227-228
The Tree of the Theatre of the Oppressed (Theory & History): p.161-162
Session 3:
Warm up
Demechanization (Blind Sequences)
Dynamization (Image Theater dynamizations)
Power & Status Analysis (Leader/Follower/Status Exercises)
Forum Theater Preparation (Columbian Hypnosis, Blank Forum)
Readings:
Experiments with the People’s Theatre in Peru (History,Theory & Method): p.50-67
Notes on Jokering p.9-10
Techniques of the Joker System: p.69-70
Excerpts from Games for Actors and Non-actors (Handout)
Session 4:
Warm up
Power & Space Analysis
Forum Theater (Theory/Dramaturgy & Practice)
Creating a Forum
Readings:
What is Theatre? (Dramaturgy): p.105-110
She Made her Brother Smile (Case): p.201-202
Example of a Class with Forum (Case): p.7-8
How to Create a Play (Handout from “Acting for Indigenous Rights”)
Session 5:
Warm up
Interventions/Imaginative Spontaneity
Rehearsal Techniques for Forum Theater
Sociometry
Lightning Forum Presentation
Reading:
Forum Theatre: Doubts and Certainties (Theory): p.83-95
Games for Actors and Non-Actors: Forum rehearsal techniques (handout)
Session 6:
Warm up
Eliciting & sculpting the narrative
Forum theater & Playback theater (Witnessing, Interpreting, Intervening)
Theory/Dramaturgy
Readings:
Empathy or Osmosis: p.48-49 (Dramaturgy)
Empathy or What? Emotion or Reason? (Dramaturgy): p.45-46
What do I do when I just don’t know? (Playback Theory) Handout
Session 7:
Warm up
Playback Theater Structures (Fluid Sculptures; Pairs)
Narrative Structures/ The Mirror and the Hammer: Forum Theater & Playback Theater
Interventions
Theory/Discussion: “Homeopathy, Alchemy, and the Theater”
Forum presentation (1)
Mid semester evaluations distributed
Readings:
Three Theatrical Encounters (History): p.97
Aristotle’s Coercive System of Tragedy (Dramaturgy): p.28-35
Catharsis and Repose, or Knowledge and Action? (Dramaturgy): p.46-47
Statement of Principles -Jerzy Grotowski (Theory): p.227-230
Towards a Poor Theater (Handout)
Dramaturgical Forms
Session 8:
Warm up
Forum Theater & Legislative Theater
Forum presentation (2)
Theory/Discussion
Readings:
Monologue & Dialogue (Legislative Theatre): p.123-124
History of Legislative Theater (Legislative Theatre): p.125-147
The Image of the Stage (Legislative Theatre): p.143-147
The Prometheus Project (Theory): p.180-182
Please note, no session Reading week
Session 9:
Warm up
Forum Theater
Invisible Theater
Theory/Discussion
Forum Presentation (3)
Reading:
The Ultimate Aim of Tragedy (Dramaturgy): p.28-31
Imprisonment and Jail: The Freedom of Prometheus (Biography): p151-158
Memory and the Torture Chamber (Biography): p148-158
Session 10:
Warm up
Forum Theater
TO as a Martial Art: Awareness, Energy, Intention and Transformative Action
Forum Presentation (4)
Readings:
I and Thou-Excerpts (Philosophy): p.255-261
The Unfettered Mind (Handout)
Session 11:
Image Theater warm up
Introduction to Cop-in-the Head
Rainbow of Desire
Theory/Dramaturgy
Reading:
Human Beings: a Passion & a Platform (Theory): p.104-115
Three Hypotheses of the Cop-in-the-Head (Theory): p.116-119
Postscript: Experiment in India (Essay): p.120-121
Session 12:
Warm up
Forum Theater/Rainbow of Desire
Jokering/Facilitation
Application: Pedagogy & Activism
Theory
Reading:
Notes on Jokering (facilitation): p.9-10
Structures of Power: Toward a Theatre of Liberation: p.211-218
Theatre as Politics and Transitive Democracy as Theatre: p.131-133
Session 13:
Warm ups
Facilitation
Ideology & Meme Theory (Carnaval of Rio)
Applications/Activism/Pedagogy
Forum Theater Presentation
Forum Theater discussion
Facilitation/Jokering
Evaluations
Closing Ritual
Reading:
Notes on Myself (Pedagogy): p.243-p253
Aesthetics of the Oppressed: a Theoretical Foundation (Theory): p.163-183
Theater in Prisons (Theory): p.186-199
Feminist Acts: Women, Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed: p.219-225
Texts:
A TO reader, containing readings from all of Boal’s texts, as well as supplementary sources, is
required. The reader is $28 + tax. Copies will be available for purchase at ICLP (Instant
Copying & Laser Printing) at 2138 University Ave., Berkeley (between Shattuck & Oxford).
Students who need them can be borrow classroom copies on loan (Please do not write in
loaned copies).
In addition, the following books are highly recommended:
Theatre of the Oppressed (1979), Augusto Boal, trans C.A. and M.L. McBride. New York:
Urizen Books: Theory, development, philosophy and practice
Games for Actors and Non-actors(1992), Augusto Boal, trans. A. Jackson. London,
Routledge: How-to handbook of games for all practitioners. Outlines developmental
sequences and theory, categorizes approaches. Important sourcebook & reference. Students
who are serious about facilitation should purchase this text.
Rainbow of desire (1990) Augusto Boal, trans. A. Jackson. London, Routledge:
Theory, philosophy, “case studies” and essays on internalized oppression. Presupposes
familiarity with his approach and theories.
Legislative theater (1999) Augusto Boal, trans. A. Jackson. London, Routledge:
Outlines the theory, development and practice of Legislative Theater
Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970, 1993), Paolo Freire: NY, Continuum. Pedagogical,
philosophical and theoretical roots of Theater of the Oppressed. Essential.
Supplementary Readings:
Hamlet and the Baker’s Son. (2001) Augusto Boal, London, Routledge:
Autobiography and development of the work
Playing Boal: Theatre, therapy, activism (1999) ed. Mady Schutzman & Jan Cohen-Cruz.
London, Routledge.
Acts of Service: Spontaneity, Commitment, Tradition in the Non-scripted Theatre (1994)
Jonathan Fox: New Paltz, NY, Tulsitala Publishing.
Come Closer: Critical Perspectives on Theatre of the Oppressed (2011)
Ed. Toby Emert & Ellie Friedland: New York, NY, Peter Lang Publishers
Acting for Indigenous Rights: Theatre to Change the World (2013)
Mariana Feireira: Minneapolis, MN, University of Minnesota Human Rights Center Publications
(Chapter 3: “Write and Perform Your Own Play” is in a downloadable pdf. format)
Web resources:
www.theatreoftheoppressed.org: international TO network website
www.ctorio.com.br: Boal’s center in Rio
CTO-Rio, Avenida Rio Branco 179-6 Andar, Centro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
Threshold Areas:
This course falls under the rubric of Educating for Wholeness and Liberation (Threshold
7). Boal's Theater of the Oppressed is an embodied, phenomenological extension of Freire's
ideas on education as a liberatory practice.
The work of the TO cultivates a deep, spontaneous authenticity, informed by a deep and
unblinkered ability to discern and name social injustice. There is also the cultivation of a deep
transpersonal intuition, integrity, compassion and courage to challenge and transform
injustice, based on the belief that a life lived in accordance with and struggling for one's ideals
is one of the deepest forms of spirituality. This places it under Prophetic Witness and Work
(Threshold 2).
Finally, this course also engages deeply with Embodied Wisdom and Beauty (Threshold 8):
It believes in holding complexity, contradiction, and suffering within the transformative crucible
of artistic creation, summoning the healing power of beauty to uncover the blessing within the
wound.